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I’ve Been Called Up to the Minors!

As of this coming Monday, I will be starting my first job in professional baseball as the official team writer of the Detroit Tigers’ Class-A affiliate, the…

Since starting this blog in December of 2007, I have had the opportunity to meet a number of great people in baseball. Members of the Chicago Cubs front office, sports reporters, bloggers, players, etc and I have been plugging along using Prose and Ivy as a way to connect with Cubs/baseball fans, a creative outlet and a way to hopefully get my foot in the door of professional baseball. Each and every new person I have met and every article I have written on this site or other sites such as MLB.com, Baseball Digest and Vine Line Magazine among others, have served as motivation to keep pushing, keep writing and keep looking for an opportunity to land an opportunity to mix my professional experience in television production, sports writing, public relations, sales and marketing and passion for the sport and parlay it into an opportunity with a Major or Minor League ballclub.

I’m excited to say that the opportunity with the Tigers will allow me to not only write for the team on a regular basis, but also provide a chance to learn the business side of the game and the ins and outs of baseball operations.

This season, when Connecticut Tigers fans come out to the ballpark, they will have a chance to read content I write about the home team, the Detroit Tigers and the New York-Penn League. Throughout the year, fans will have an opportunity to read articles I write about a variety of different topics within those three categories on the team’s official website CTTigers.com. I have had meetings with independent league teams over the past few months and nearly landed an opportunity with one of them back in January – something that if it had come to fruition, I would have been extremely grateful for. Of course, I am not sure where this opportunity with the Tigers could lead in the future, however the chance to work within a front office that is rich with baseball professionals and part of an infrastructure tied to a storied franchise such as the Detroit Tigers is an opportunity I am very much looking forward to and can’t wait to get started on.

The fact that our games will feature ballplayers that could be wearing a Detroit uniform in just a few years from now is something I am very excited about and looking forward to being a part of. This is an exciting time to be a Tigers fan (certainly a more hopeful experience than that of a Cubs fan) and while their MLB roster hardly needs a hand in dominating so far this season, to watch the players they believe to be the future of the franchise and have a hands-on experience working within one of my favorite parts of the game- the Minor Leagues- is going to be unbelievable.

In addition to writing for the Tigers, I’ll be learning a ton about the business side of Minor League baseball in serving as the team’s Box Office Manager for the 2012 season. Need a ticket to the game? I’m your guy. Need tickets to take an entire group to the game? I’m your guy. Want to rent a suite for one of our upcoming games against the young talent coming up through the Red Sox, Astros, Nationals, Indians, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, Marlins, Blue Jays, Yankees, Mets, Rays or Orioles respective systems? I’m your guy. Need season tickets to enjoy a few months of quality baseball talent at affordable, family friendly prices complete with fun promotions and in-game family friendly entertainment? I am your guy!

The more the merrier clearly, so if you happen to be a Tigers fan who stumbles upon this article or simply a baseball fan that lives in the area, come check out the team this season at beautiful Dodd Stadium. I’ll have an opportunity to post pictures of the extremely impressive stadium throughout the summer months (the season runs from June 18-Sept 5), but for now, here’s a shot of the field from the team’s website:

While you’re at it, check out the logo behind home plate.

The team decided to keep the Tigers name when they moved the team from Oneonta, NY to Norwich, CT in 2010 and the logo reflects the tie-in to the big league club as well. As you all very well know, the Detroit Old English Style ‘D’ is one of the most recognizable logos in all of sports. I love the idea of turning it around practically and keeping the same font for the A-ball club in designing the logo around the Connecticut ‘C’. Here is a larger look at the team logo in royal blue:

Now that I’ve posted it, I believe the more appropriate term would have been ‘much larger’ look at the team logo. What can I say, I’m psyched.

This site will of course continue to cover Chicago Cubs baseball for the 2012 season.

Will it feature a link or 100 here and there to material I write for the Connecticut Tigers, too? The short answer? Quite possibly, yes. You’ll still find all the Cubs news and opinion you could hope for here like always, however, I’ll also be sharing my experience with the Connecticut Tigers here over the course of the season.

Prose and Ivy and MLBlogs allowed me to kick-start any and all opportunities I’ve had so far in sports writing in general, which means any of you reading this whether it is your first time here, or you’re Abracadabra (the person that has left more comments than any other visitor to the site since 2007), you have helped keep me motivated in my pursuit of a career in sports journalism/professional baseball and I appreciate it, so thanks!

Looking forward to sharing my experience of working with the Detroit Tigers’ Class-A affiliate, the Connecticut Tigers this season (and of course second guessing Sveum’s line-ups, debating when to change up the rotation, complaining about the bullpen, enjoying the opportunity to watch Theo work his magic on this franchise, etc, etc, etc)!

Writing for:

MLB.COMVINE LINE MAGAZINE - The official publication of the Chicago CubsBASEBALL DIGESTCONNECTICUT TIGERS - Class A Short Season Minor League Affiliate of the Detroit Tigers
Writing Samples available HERE